1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pets and methods for reuniting lost pets with their owners. More particularly, the invention relates to a nationwide, web-based pet registration, search, and retrieval system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been estimated that thousands of pets are lost each year in the U.S. alone. Current methods for reuniting lost pets with their owners are either largely ineffective, too costly or too complicated. For example, one such method requires a pet owner to purchase a personalized pet tag for their pet having the pet owner's name, address, and phone number printed thereon. A person who finds a pet with such a tag can then read the tag and call the pet's owner. This method is effective as long as the information on the tag is current; however, if the pet owner moves and/or changes phone numbers, the pet tags must be replaced with more current tags or else they are useless.
Other methods for locating lost pets include implanting identifying microchips in the pets or tattooing the pets. Both of these methods are expensive and painful for the pets and do not permit a finder of a pet to search for and contact the pet's owner at any time of day. Moreover, with the microchip methods, the finder of the pet must first determine that the pet has an implanted microchip and then locate a veterinarian or other animal facility that has a microchip scanner that can read the implanted microchip.
Several Internet web sites exist that assist in locating lost pets. These sites use a variety of methods such as posting pictures and descriptions of lost pets and information regarding where pets were lost. Unfortunately, the descriptions and information posted on these sites is often too limited and subjective to permit an exact match between a lost pet and its owner. Moreover, pet owners who lose their pets often do not add descriptions of their lost pets to these sites until days after their pets have been lost. If a person finds a pet and accesses one of the sites before the pet owner adds a description of the lost pet to the site, the finder will be unable to locate the pet owner.